Distraction
by ahanna25
Summary: In which, Jace needs a distraction from his thoughts concerning the girl with the fiery red hair.


Disclaimer: The characters aren't mine; they're from Cassandra Clare's _The Mortal Instruments_.

This one-shot is set after Clary wakes up after being attacked by the Ravener demon in the first few chapters of City of Bones.

His slim fingers knowingly slipped over the worn ivory keys. He barely had to think about his movements, which, truthfully, defeated the purpose of his intentions. He thought that he could lose himself in the music, as to stop thinking about that damn girl, but, to his dismay, it just left a limitless void in his mind. And now, that void was consumed with the thought of her. He remembered her blazing hair wildly twisting around her as she demanded him to give her answers. How she had incredibly and stupidly taken on the Ravener demon and the way his stomach sunk when he realized she had been stung by the demon. He could feel the same fiery red mess of hair tickling his nose, as he cradled her in his arms after she collapsed from the demon poison. He remembered swallowing his arguments when the doctor, Hodge, asked him to leave the examination room. He could imagine fighting for her for the rest of his life, against everything his father had taught him: to love is to destroy, and that to be loved is to be the one destroyed.

He shivered, suddenly feeling the chill in the room due to his damp hair, which at this point was completely disheveled from the amount of times he had anxiously pushed his fringe from his eyes. For the past three days Clary had been in some sort of sleep, since she had collapsed. He needed her to wake up as soon as possible, but Hodge had said, "These things take time." He didn't know what he would do if she died before he even got the chance to tell her his name - if he never got to hear his name fall from her lips.

His thoughts were abruptly interrupted by a loud creak from the floorboards. "Alec?" he called out, "Is that you?" As if she knew he was just thinking of her, Clary stepped out from the shadows and further into the room. "Clary," he breathed much too low for her to hear. His chest was almost exploding with relief as he stood to move towards her.

"It's not Alec. It's me," she said, "Clary."

 _I know_ , he wanted to say, but instead, "Our own Sleeping Beauty. Who finally kissed you awake?" He said this with such cruel contempt, which had been instilled in him since he was a child, he was shocked when she retorted, "Nobody. I woke up _on my own_."

"Was there anyone with you?"

"Isabelle, but she went off to get someone—Hodge, I think. She told me to wait, but—"

"I should have warned her about your habit of never doing what you're told," He said testing her for some sort of reaction. When surprisingly none came he continued, scrunching his nose up, "Are those Isabelle's clothes? They look ridiculous on you."

Clary maintained her silence crossing her arms over her chest.

"Oh come now, Clary," Jace circled her teasingly, fighting the knot in his stomach telling him to pull her into his arms, "You can't be angry with me, especially when I have every right to be much more angry with you."

"Angry with me?" Clary steamed marching towards him, her pointer finger now digging into his chest, "You angry with me?! Of all the preposterous things you could declare, you say you're angry with me! Well, I quite simply reject your claim. You have no right to be angry with me."

And in this moment, Jace had a sudden image from a few days ago of himself and Clary arguing shortly before she was attacked by the Ravener demon - her closeness reminded him of when she grabbed his wrist demanding to know where he got his 'tattoo' and why she was constantly drawing that symbol.

"You ran off all by yourself like a mad women."

"Oh, so now I can't take care of myself? Well, we'll have to just agree to disagree that you have any right to be mad with me."

The much taller defendant shrugged, "You're the one who got stabbed by the Ravener demon," _and had me worried nearly to death_ , the latter he neglected to say aloud.

Her mouth parted in shock - in the most pleasant way, he thought - and Jace smiled to himself, watching as her cherry locks contorted around her as she shook her head at him.

Clary paused among the chaos of her thoughts noticing Jace smiling, "You're messing with me."

He turned his back to her, allowing a brief but gleaming smile to overcome his face, "Come on, I'll take you to Hodge."


End file.
